The Minor Latin Works

Written in the last twenty years of John Gowers career, these Latin poems—designated "minor" due to their relatively short length—are rescued from critical neglect by R. F. Yeager. The poems crystallize around the political turbulence of 1399-1400 when Henry Bolingbroke (later Henry IV) usurped Richard IIs throne, and shed light on Gowers shifting allegiances, advice to princes, and famously moral principles on self-rule. Ranging from estates satire to prophecy, Gowers lyrics include the "laureate group," three poems written in support of Henrys coronation, and Carmen super multiplici viciorum pestilencia (A Poem on the Manifold Plague of Vices), which depict sins plaguing the body politic. Facing-page translations and extensive notes allow readers to witness Gowers experimentation with meter and rhyme. The volume finishes with Gowers contemporary Middle English poem, In Praise of Peace. Michael Livingston calls it a "poetic proof," a carefully constructed argument in which Gower offers advice to the new king on the virtues of peacekeeping.